Feb. 28--The legend of "Shoeless" Jordan Ash was born, the legend of Charlie Hall lived on and the legend of Bryant McIntosh almost sprouted again.
It was a busy Saturday inside Welsh-Ryan Arena during the Wildcats' 98-59 victory against hapless Rutgers.
That doesn't even take into account the 24 points, eight rebounds and four assists Tre Demps accumulated. Or the 14 points, 10 rebounds, three assists and three blocks Alex Olah as Northwestern ran off to its largest victory margin of in a Big Ten game since it scored 52 more points than the University of Chicago on Jan. 14, 1944.
First, though, Ash's shoe, which ended up in the left hand of official Ted Valentine after it escaped Ash's left foot with just fewer than three minutes left. The mishap occurred as Ash collected one of his six assists when Nathan Taphorn hit the last of the 17 3-pointers the Wildcats made and the last of Taphorn's career-best 13 points.
"He has to tie his shoe tighter, man," Northwestern coach Chris Collins said with a grin of Ash. "I don't know about these guys these days. I played a long time. My shoe never fell off. I don't get that."
The other shoe didn't drop on the Wildcats (18-11, 6-10 Big Ten) this time, though.
The victory kept the 16-in-a-row-loss Scarlet Knights, whose worst defeat this season was by 50 at home against Purdue, on a path the Northwestern program has traveled.
Rutgers (6-23, 0-16) has two more tries at avoiding becoming the first team to go 0-18 in the Big Ten since the Wildcats did it during the 1990-91 season. Northwestern also is the last team to go winless in the Big Ten, which it did by losing all 16 it played in 1999-2000.
The point differential prompted some in attendance to chant "Charlie, Charlie, Charlie," as the clock ticked toward game expiration.
Collins insisted he wasn't obliging them when he inserted Hall, a walk-on and the youngest son of comic actors Julia Louis-Dreyfus and husband Brad Hall, who met while the two attended Northwestern.
Charlie Hall didn't scratch the score sheet, and hasn't in eight appearances this season. That only prompted fans to call for his first shot attempt as Hall dribbled the ball near half-court during the waning seconds, the Wildcats two points shy of 100.
"I'm not fueled by that," Collins said. "Charlie deserved to get some time. We gave him almost three minutes, which is a lot. It's not about trying to get him a shot. If he does within the flow, that's great."
Northwestern had assists on 33 of its 37 baskets. Thirteen of those assists belonged to McIntosh, the school's all-time single-season leader with 198. Thirteen also left him one short of tying assistant coach Pat Baldwin's single-game record of 14, set in 1992.
"He told me he wanted me to break it, but I don't know," McIntosh joked. "I got to 13, they gave me one possession, we throw an alley-oop dunk and I was out. We'll have to go back to the film on that one."
A film the Wildcats no doubt will enjoy reviewing.
pskrbina@tribpub.com
